Throughout his illustrious career as a writer/director/producer/comedy demi-god, Judd Apatow has made movie stars out of Steve Carell (with The 40-Year-Old Virgin), Seth Rogen (with Knocked Up) and Amy Schumer (with Trainwreck). Now he's anointed rising performer Pete Davidson - heretofore perhaps best known for tabloid coverage of his romantic pursuits - who stars in and co-wrote Apatow's new film, The King of Staten Island.
While the three earlier movies were all constructed to some degree around the lead actor's persona, The King of Staten Island goes even further, constituting a heavily autobiographical exercise for the 26-year-old Davidson, a comedian and Saturday Night Live cast member whose firefighter father died in the 9/11 attacks, when Pete was 7.
In the new film, Davidson plays Scott, a mid-20s layabout living in his mother's basement in the titular New York borough, where Davidson himself still lives (in a house he shares with his mother). Scott also lost his firefighter father when he was a kid (though not in 9/11), and struggles with his mental health – something Davidson has been open about in his own life.
"This is a story I've always wanted to tell," Davidson tells the Herald via a Zoom call (from his basement, where arcade machines line the wall behind him). "These issues that Scott has to deal with in the movie are issues that I deal with in real life. I always wanted to put it out [there] in a healthy, organic way and I'm grateful to Judd for allowing me to do that. Making the film was really therapeutic."
The film chronicles Scott's resistance to growing up, the long-lasting trauma of his father's death, and how he freaks out when his mother (Marisa Tomei) begins dating a fireman (comedian Bill Burr).